Designing with Love
What does it take to design learning experiences that truly work? Join Jackie Pelegrin, an award-winning instructional designer, Grand Canyon University (GCU) adjunct instructor, educational consultant, and author, as she explores instructional design, e-learning, and AI integration. Expect actionable tips, real-world insights, and conversations with students, alumni, and industry leaders shaping the future of learning.
Episodes
158 episodes
AI as Your Co-Designer: Collaboration, Not Replacement
AI can write a quiz question in seconds, but it cannot tell you what your learners truly need or what’s ethical, accessible, and aligned. That’s the tension Jackie's unpacking as we continue the series Future Ready Learning: Designing Educat...
AI for Faster Learning Design With Dr. Dwayne Wood
AI can make you faster, but it can also make you lazy. That tension sits at the center of Jackie's conversation with Dr. Dwayne Wood as we bring together the big ideas from our mini-series and get practical about using generative AI for innovat...
The Future of Learning Starts Now: What 2027 Demands from Designers
2027 is closer than it feels, and the future of learning is already showing up in the tools we use, the questions learners ask, and the pressure to prove real value in education and training. Jackie is kicking off a new 14-part series, Future-R...
Designing for Adult Learners With Dr. Dwayne Wood
The fastest way to ruin an adult learning experience is to start with a shiny tool and hope an outcome appears later. Jackie sat down with Dr. Dwayne Wood to get back to the foundations that keep instructional design effective, especially in on...
Myth: Instructional Design is Just Making Slides
Slides are the artifact everyone recognizes, and that’s exactly why the myth survives: if a stakeholder can only see the deck, they assume the work is decoration. Jackie closes out the Myths in Instructional Design and Education series by pushi...
Multimodal Learning That Works With Dr. Dwayne Wood
If your learners are exhausted before they even reach the content, the problem might not be motivation. It might be the mode. Jackie welcomes Dr. Dwayne Wood back for part two of the mini-series to unpack multimodal learning for adult learners ...
Myth: Class Size Doesn’t Affect Learning Quality
Class size is not a harmless detail; it’s a force that quietly rewrites the learning experience. When a course jumps from 15 learners to 75, the same discussion prompt can turn into noise, feedback timelines can stretch, and learners can feel i...
Generative AI and Curriculum Design With Dr. Dwayne Wood
Generative AI is moving from “helpful tool” to something that can quietly shape how people think, write, and learn, and that changes everything about curriculum design. I sit down with Dr. Dwayne Wood, an experienced educator and curriculum dev...
Myth: Interactivity Requires Fancy Tools
Interactivity is one of those words that sounds obvious until you try to design for it. If you’ve ever felt pressure to add branching scenarios, animations, or expensive eLearning interactions to prove a course is “engaging,” we’re calling that...
How to Design Digital Training That Changes Behavior With Erick Prospero
Shiny training is everywhere right now, and a lot of it still fails the moment learners go back to work. We sit down with e-Learning strategist and Ninja Tropic CEO Erick Prospero to get honest about what “engaging” digital learning actually me...
Myth: AI Will Replace Instructional Designers
AI can generate a course outline, a script, and a quiz in seconds, so it’s easy to wonder if instructional designers are next on the replacement list. We slow that fear down and look at what’s actually happening when AI enters the learning desi...
Game-Based Learning Can Make Security Training Stick With Lee Anderson
Your inbox is designed for speed. Attackers know it, and too many training programs pretend we’re all making perfect choices with unlimited time and zero stress. Jackie had a great conversation with Lee Anderson, a cybersecurity professional wi...
Myth: Engagement Means Entertainment
Clicking, laughing, and “having fun” can look like engagement, but it can also be a mirage. In this episode, Jackie unpacks a stubborn instructional design myth that shows up in classrooms, eLearning, and workplace training: engagement means en...
A Name Can Be the First Blueprint for Identity With Dr. Tamara Nall
A suffix can look like a tiny detail on paper, but it can carry an entire family story. Jackie sits down with Dr. Tamara Nall to talk about Junia, a formal naming tradition designed to give daughters the kind of visible legacy marker that “Juni...
Myth: Assessments Must Be Tests to Be Valid
A quiz can be quick, clean, and easy to score, but does it actually prove learning? We take on a stubborn myth in instructional design and education: that assessments must be tests to be valid. In this episode, Jackie explains why tests are so ...
A Master’s Program Can Reveal Your Instructional Design Path With Naomi Allen
You can feel the moment when a career finally makes sense: you read a course list, something clicks, and you realize there’s a name for the work you’ve wanted to do all along. That’s the energy behind Jackie's conversation with Naomi Allen, who...
Myth: More Content Means More Learning
More slides do not equal more learning, and if you have ever felt pressured to “add just one more resource,” you already know how quickly a course can turn into a content dump. We take on a stubborn instructional design myth: the idea that pili...
Human-Governed AI for Learning Design With James Gilchrist
AI can hand you a polished outline, a full course draft, and a dozen “best practice” scenarios in seconds. The hard part is deciding whether any of it is worth a learner’s time. Jackie sat down with James Gildrist, founder of Lighthouse L&D...
Myth: Learning Styles Should Drive Design Decisions
If you’ve ever heard someone say “I’m a visual learner,” you’ve seen how quickly learning style labels can shape training decisions. In this episode, Jackie unpacks a persistent instructional design myth: that learning styles should drive how w...
Lead Without a Title With Darrell Williams
The fastest way to become a trusted leader isn’t getting promoted. It’s becoming the person people run to when something hurts, and you can help fix it.Jackie sat down with Darrell Williams, a master certified life coach and longtime mi...
Myth: Good Teaching Equals Good Instructional Design
Good teaching is powerful, but it can also hide a trap: when a class goes well, we assume the design must be strong. Jackie unpacks a common myth in instructional design and education that shows up everywhere from K-12 to corporate training and...
Alumni Engagement That Works With Jennifer Cunningham
Most schools and nonprofits don’t have an “engagement problem” they have a follow-up problem. If you’ve ever gone to a campus event, felt a quick burst of nostalgia, and then never heard anything meaningful again, you’ve seen the gap firsthand....
Myth: Technology Automatically Improves Learning
A shiny new tool can feel like instant progress, but what if it quietly makes your course harder to learn? Jackie is tackling one of the most stubborn myths in instructional design and education: the idea that technology automatically improves ...
Human Connection in Teaching With Lou Hirsch
Most of us can remember a teacher who noticed us, but we struggle to remember the worksheet, the lecture slide, or the exact content on the exam. That’s where this conversation with Dr. Lou Hirsch lands: the real unit of change in higher educat...
Myth: Accessibility Is Optional If Your Learners Don't Request It
The fastest way to lock learners out of your course is to wait for them to ask for access. We’re tackling a stubborn myth in instructional design and education: “Accessibility is optional if learners don’t request it.” It sounds reasonable on p...
